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HK Growth to Slow

Hong Kong is expected to grow at a slower pace this year than in 2015 as the city’s economy is constrained by difficulties in its exports sector and lower spending by visiting tourists, according to the city’s top financial services official, Bloomberg reported. “Growth rate will be worse than last year,” K. C. Chan, Hong Kong’s secretary for financial services and the treasury, said in an interview with Commercial Radio Hong Kong on Saturday. “Our currency is expensive and economies in surrounding markets are starting to slow, so it’s clear that downward pressure on the economy is huge.” Hong Kong’s GDP is estimated by economists to have grown 2.3% in 2015, the most sluggish since 2008 amid rising concerns about China’s slowdown and instability in global markets. The city’s currency spiked Friday as prospect of more stimulus from Japan and Europe ignited a global stocks rebound and curbed bets its peg to the greenback will end. Hong Kong will release its 2015 GDP figures on Feb. 24.